


Blink tomato, blink

by Maisie_top_trash



Series: Eating Disorder AUs [1]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Anorexia, Eating Disorders, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-17 05:17:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11268702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maisie_top_trash/pseuds/Maisie_top_trash
Summary: Tyler valued the voice more than the man opposite.





	Blink tomato, blink

**Author's Note:**

> TRIGGER WARNING FOR EDS

"Have you ever had a staring competition with a tomato?"  
"What?"  
"Have you ever had a staring competition with a tomato?" Tyler repeated himself, refusing to make eye contact whilst pulling down the sleeves of his grey hoodie over his knuckles. When he held onto the fabric with shaking tips of his fingers, the white interiors of those fingers pressed against the cold purple skin and threatened to protrude straight through it. It wasn't a particularly scary threat, in fact, Tyler often wondered whether he'd look better if the bones actually pushed through.

"I don't understand the question." Josh said.  
"I went to the Italian on the corner of third street for my birthday with my mother last year. It wasn't a celebration, it was a test. I wasn't allowed any guests, I wasn't allowed anything the way I wanted it, I had to go to this restaurant with her alone and I had to wear short sleeves so I couldn't hide food, and I wasn't allowed a napkin in case I spat it out, and I wasn't allowed to go to the bathroom. She did allow me to pick what I ordered, and I had a garden salad without any dressing alongside a glass of ice water. Ice water burns more calories because your body has to warm it up." Tyler said softly, still not making eye contact. "She had squash and sausage risotto. 320 for the sausages, 130 for the butternut squash, 155 for the risotto rice, 80 for the cottage cheese sauce, plus she added 22 of Parmasean cheese. Total 707. I had a staring competition with a tomato."  
"But what does that mean Tyler?"

"She said I wasn't allowed to leave until I ate. She said I was ruining my birthday, she said I wasn't trying hard enough, she said I had to eat a tomato. I didn't want to."  
"Why not?"  
"There are 3 calories in a cherry tomato. That's why."  
"You probably burnt that many walking from the door of the restaurant to your seat Tyler."  
"It was 43 steps, that's only 2 calories. Besides, without the tomato that would have been a loss, with the tomato that would have been a maintain."

"Did you eat it?"  
"I had a staring competition with it, I stared at it for 71 minutes before putting it in my mouth, biting it six times, then spitting it out onto my mother's desert. She had tiramisu for 492."  
"Then what happened?"  
"She took me home."

Tyler pulled the sleeves tighter again, cuddling his knees closer to his chest and feeling the squidge when he squeezed that told him he had more work to do. There was always more work to do.

"This could kill you Ty, you know that, don't you?"  
"Oh I do hope so."  
"You hope- what? No, no Tyler that's supposed to be a bad thing, it's supposed to scare you into recovery, you're supposed to want to recover."  
"Why live a lie for another 70 years when I could die beautiful today."  
"This isn't beautiful Tyler, this is bone, this is-"  
"Shhh now Josh, that's enough, shhh," Tyler stared at the rain cascading down the glass. Some people just didn't understand. "You don't know anything, you've never even had a staring competition with a tomato."


End file.
